The 8th Empire Awards ceremony (officially known as the Sony Ericsson Empire Awards), presented by the British

film magazine Film periodicals combine discussion of individual films, genres and directors with in-depth considerations of the medium and the conditions of its production and reception. Their articles contrast with film reviewing in newspapers and magazines whi ...

''Empire'', honored the best films of 2002 and took place on 5 February 2003 at The Dorchester Hotel in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. During the ceremony, ''Empire'' presented

Empire Awards The Empire Awards was an annual British awards ceremony honouring cinematic achievements in the local and global film industry. Winners were awarded the Empire Award statuette. The awards, first presented in 1996, were presented by the British f ...

in nine categories as well as two honorary awards. The award for Sony Ericsson Scene of the Year was first introduced this year. The Best Debut award was renamed to "Best Newcomer". British actor

Richard E. Grant Richard E. Grant (born Richard Grant Esterhuysen; 5 May 1957) is a Swazi-English actor and presenter. He made his film debut as Withnail in the comedy ''Withnail and I'' (1987). Grant received critical acclaim for his role as Jack Hock in Mar ...

hosted the show for the first time. The awards were sponsored by

Sony Ericsson Sony Mobile Communications Inc. ( ja, ソニーモバイルコミュニケーションズ株式会社) was a multinational telecommunications company founded on October 1, 2001, as a joint venture between Sony Group Corporation and Ericsson. ...

for the first time. '' Minority Report'' won the most awards with three including Best Director for

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Sp ...

. Other winners included ''

28 Days Later ''28 Days Later'' is a 2002 British post-apocalyptic horror film directed by Danny Boyle and written by Alex Garland. It stars Cillian Murphy as a bicycle courier who awakens from a coma to discover the accidental release of a highly contagiou ...

'', '' About a Boy'', ''

Die Another Day ''Die Another Day'' is a 2002 spy film and the twentieth film in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions. It was produced by Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, and directed by Lee Tamahori. The fourth and final film st ...

'', ''

Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book ''Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in the Si ...

'', '' Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones'' and '' The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers'' with one.

Dustin Hoffman Dustin Lee Hoffman (born August 8, 1937) is an American actor and filmmaker. As one of the key actors in the formation of New Hollywood, Hoffman is known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and emotionally vulnerable characters. He is th ...

received the Lifetime Achievement Award and

Michael Winterbottom Michael Winterbottom (born 29 March 1961) is an English film director. He began his career working in British television before moving into features. Three of his films—''Welcome to Sarajevo'', '' Wonderland'' and '' 24 Hour Party People''� ...

and

Andrew Eaton Andrew Campbell Eaton (born 7 December 1959) is a film and television producer. He was educated at Campbell College and Churchill College, graduating with a BA in 1982. In 1994, he co-founded Revolution Films Revolution Films is a British ...

received the Independent Spirit Award for their role in the direction and production of '' 24 Hour Party People''.

Winners and nominees

Winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface.

Multiple awards

The following film received multiple awards:

Multiple nominations

The following 11 films received multiple nominations:

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Empire Awards, 08 Empire Award ceremonies 2002 film awards 2003 in British cinema 2003 in London February 2003 events in the United Kingdom 2000s in the City of Westminster